


Nice Dream

by depressivesergeant, orphan_account



Series: Red Band Society AU [1]
Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Red Band Society Fusion, Amputee Dick Winters, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Friendship, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, liver disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2020-09-26 13:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20390449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/depressivesergeant/pseuds/depressivesergeant, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Dick seeks out Lew, finding him in a depressive state, and sits with him.





	Nice Dream

He is not ready to use the prosthesis. He still can feel his leg and it hurts so badly when he pushes his amputated leg over the plastic support. So he keeps the crutches to move around the hospital, and with them he goes to Lew's room. Lew had not showed up to breakfast, nor after it. So Dick went looking for him. Lew was Dick's favorite person in the hospital. But their relationship, sometimes, was complicated, as Lew hated to talk about his own problems.

Dick looked around, after the room's door, looking for any sign Lew was still there:

"Lew?" he says as he supports himself on the crutches, under his arms, "are you there?"

Lew is pulled out of a dreamless, gauzy sleep when he hears Dick's voice call after him. He groans, feeling too nauseous and exhausted to even roll onto his side to see his friend. Instead he mumbles, "I'm here," and pulls down the blankets to look out the window glumly.

Even with the medication they give him every day, he feels like this more often than not, and he's just so tired. Lew isn't sure if he wants Dick's company now, but he is too lonely to deny it. So he stays quiet and still, listening to his friend's breathing.

Dick can sense Lew's disposition but walks in anyway. He knows his friend better than to just let him be when he is only slightly grumpy or depressed, not after a time alone. He walks closer to the bed, looking up to the window before Lew.

"It's rainy again," he says, still on his feet, over his crutches.

"Mmm," Lew agrees softly. He glances up at Dick, eyes tracing the boy's profile. He wonders sometimes what he's done to deserve a friend like Dick. He's certainly enough of a fuck-up to drive his own classmates away. Since being hospitalized he hadn't heard a word from anyone but his mom and Blanche. He knows Dick has lots of friends and family who visit him, and sometimes he feels a spark of longing for it.

"How's the leg?" Lew asks, still not moving. He pulls the blanket over his shoulder again, feeling cold.

"Not here," Dick answers back, flatly and out of fact, pulling a chair close to the bed. He doesn't like to talk about his leg, it's useless. He just likes to pretend that everything is there, as always, so he doesn't spins down a rabbit hole of self-pity. He keeps his stare on the window, as Lew seems to not want to move much, "Nothing to care about that."

"Sorry," Lew says. "Dumb question, huh." He winces, cursing softly as pain flashes through his abdomen again. Lew itches for a cigarette, or a shot of whiskey; something to numb his body and his mind for a while, damn the consequences. They tell him he can't do that anymore, can't live the life he used to, and he doesn't care, doesn't really think it's true.

The pain passes and he sighs, slumping against the pillow weakly. He thinks of eating and it just makes him want to puke, but he knows Dick and anyone else who's paid him any mind can see that he's lost weight.

"Could you...get me a glass of water?" Lew asks quietly, looking up at Dick again.

Dick shrugs, he knows Lew didn't mean harm. He knows what hurts the most is his inability to accept what he now has, or what he doesn't have to be more clear. He looks down at Lew, noticing the other boy looking back at him. "Yeah, sure," he looks a bit more at Lew, at his dark eyes, and then pulls his crutches again, getting up a little after he made a mess trying to be smooth and quiet. He almost curses, but just groans. Lew must be in pain too, but he knows he can’t do much about it. Maybe he could suggest Harry’s pot but....it probably isn't good for his health.

He comes back, after a while, with a plastic glass of water, "Here,"

Lew bites his lip as he watches Dick struggle to get up. He could have done it himself, and he feels guilty for it. When Dick returns with the water he manages a quiet thank you, sitting up to drink. The blankets fall down, leaving his chest uncovered- he only sleeps in shorts- but he doesn't take notice, drinking the water slowly. He manages half the glass before he feels he needs to stop, and he sets it aside.

"Sorry I didn't make it to breakfast," Lew murmurs. "Don't feel very good today."

Dick blushes a little when his eyes linger onto Lew's chest but looks up in no time, watching Lew drink. When Lew pushes the glass aside, Dick nods at his words, "It's ok, but you need to eat though," he looks down at that, because he doesn't like to push Lew, especially because Lew seemed not to listen to him when he got serious like that.

Lew grimaces, shaking his head. "I'd just puke it all up," he mutters. "This damn disease..." Lew trails off, looking out the window. He thinks about home, and almost misses it. Lew sighs, sliding back down the bed until he's lying on his side again, looking up at Dick. "I'm gonna get out of here someday," he says. "Paris would be nice, maybe, or London, wouldn't it? I'll take you there." Lew smiles wanly. "Get you out of corn country for a bit."

Dick looks down at his hands. He knows how hard it can be but Lew needs to try harder, for them (whatever this means), "Lew..." he asks but kind of gives up, at least for the time being, as Lew wanders about the future and what they could do, Dick snorts, "Well, you gotta keep yourself in check for it," he looks up at Lew, a teasing little smile on the corner of his lip.

Lew frowns. "What's the point, though?" he wonders aloud. "It'll kill me anyway. I barely have half a liver left." Lew closes his eyes, feeling the exhaustion and hopelessness close in again. "I'll probably never see Paris, Dick," he murmurs. "It's a nice dream, but that's all it will ever be." He feels guilty for ruining the fantasy, but he knows it's true.

Dick closes his eyes for a moment, before looking up at Lew, after he had made his peace, "You don't know that," he pulls his crutches aside and crawls on the bed, "You know you have time to get one," he crawls closer to Lew, "Just...just be quiet for a minute," he says before laying down beside Lew, pushing his nose against Lew's neck, wrapping Lew with an arm.

Lew feels Dick climb onto the bed, and allows it, pressing back against his friend. "It just seems hopeless," he murmurs. "My liver isn't going to fix itself." He thinks of Dick's prosthetic, visible as it always is under the hem of his pants. "I'm sure you understand."

Dick doesn't answer for a time, he doesn't like when Lew talks about his leg, so he stays quiet instead of arguing or cursing. He closes his eyes, "You can get a donation yet," he murmurs, turning his head aside.

"It's not that easy," Lew sighs. "Mom's looking, but she hasn't found anything that can work for me yet." He falls silent, picking at the blankets absently. It feels good, Dick lying pressed up behind him, and he thinks could fall asleep like this, all ills forgotten, at least for a while.

"I know," Dick says, pulling himself up, closer to the headboard, to Lew's head, "But there is no point in being negative about it."

Lew sighs. "Yeah," he agrees half-heartedly, "I guess there isn't." He turns over on his other side to face Dick, managing a tired smile at his friend. "Y'know, I'm glad we met each other. I wish the circumstances were different, but I'm glad."

Dick blushes by the closeness, but smiles his small smile anyway, "Me too," he says, scratching his head, he can feel Lew's hot breath on his nose and it feels...overwhelming, "I guess it had to be like this."

"Mmm," Lew mumbles, closing his eyes. Dick smells clean and masculine and he breathes it in a bit, relaxing. He wonders if Dick likes other boys too, or if he'd be appalled by the idea. Whatever the case, Lew can't imagine that Dick would ever hurt him. "Maybe Paris could happen," Lew murmurs, beginning to fall asleep.

"Yeah," Dick answers, biting at his lip as he watches Lew, his hand still planted on Lew’s hip, "But you should try to eat something later, Lew" because Dick knows for a fact that they won’t go anywhere if Lew had no energy to fight the disease back, "for any of these ideas to not be just a dream."

Lew grunts, curling around his belly. He thinks about all the times he'd eaten and thrown up, and shakes his head miserably. "I can't keep anything down," Lew mumbles, pressing his face against Dick's chest. "I don't want to live like this forever." He presses a hand against Dick's stomach, feeling the muscle Dick still retains there.

“You won’t,” Dick says—but nothing is ever really certain in the ICU.


End file.
